Shuttlecock with blade-like stems



5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed May 21, 1964 QEHEUHUUHHUHHUHE April? H, 39%? w.c. CARLTON 3,333,543

SHUTTLECOCK WITH BLADE-LIKE STEMS Filed May 21, 1964 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Py 197 w. c. CARLTON SHUTTLECOCK WITH BLADE-LIKE STEMS 3 SheetsSheet 5Filed May 21, 1964 United States Patent 3,313,543 SHUTTLECOCK WITHBLADE-LIKE STEMS William C. Carlton, Hill House, Finchingfield, EnglandFiled May 21, 1964, Ser'. No. 369,161 Claims priority, application GreatBritain, June 25, 1963, 25,135/63 1 Claim. (Cl. 273-106) This inventionrelates to shuttlecocks having skirts made of suitable syntheticmaterials such as some types of polyethylenes and some types ofpolyamides.

Shuttlecocks having skirts made of synthetic materials and acceptable tolarge numbers of badminton players have been in production since 1950and some of these shuttlecocks have a performance comparable to sometypes of feather shuttlecocks.

The performance of any type of shuttlecock can be continually improvedbut there are a number of conflicting requirements which make greatattention to detail essential and some compromise between weight andstrength inevitable.

In addition to performance there is a further quality which is alsocapable of continual improvement but subject to compromise withperformance, and this quality is to some extent psychological and tosome extent connected with feel. When a badminton player smashes hissatisfaction is increased if there is appreciable resistance and acertain noise made on impact between shuttlecock and racket. A newfeather shuttlecock of tournament quality and made from goose feathershas this quality.

It is the broad object of this invention to improve the psychologicalattraction of shuttlecocks with particular regard to the feel and soundof shuttlecocks having skirts made of suitable synthetic materials, suchas certain polyethylenes and polyamides.

The invention particularly aims to provide a shuttlecock capable ofbeing made by injection moulding whose performance is eminentlysatisfactory to a skilled player of badminton. The shuttlecock of theinvention flies properly, spins well, and emits the desired sound whenstruck.

In order that the invention may be readily understood and carried intoeffect reference is now made to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevation of a typical shuttlecock of the prior art.

FIGURE 2 is a cross section on line 22 of FIGURE 1, but with wings 4added to the blade-like stems, the showing of the wings being somewhatdiagrammatic. This figure illustrates the invention.

FIGURE 3 shows an enlarged cross-sectional view of a single stem of ashuttlecock incorporating one form of the invention.

FIGURE 4 shows an enlarged cross-sectional view of a single stem of ashuttlecock incorporating another form of the invention.

FIGURE 5 shows an enlarged cross-sectional view of a single stem of ashuttlecock incorporating yet another form of the invention.

FIGURE 6 shows an enlarged cross-sectional View of a single stern of ashuttlecock incorporating still another form of the invention.

FIGURE 7 shows a side elevation of a shuttlecock incorporating theinvention.

Referring first to FIGURE 1, a cap 1 is fixed to a skirt 2 which, itwill be noted, joins the cap at the flared end 7. The cap 1 may beintegral with the skirt 2 or may be attached to a collar (not shown)that is integral with the stems 3. The cap may also be provided withadditional covering, not shown. The blade-like stems 3 form "ice part ofthe skirt and hold the vanes 30, which may be a series of ribs branchingfrom each side of each stem in proper relationship to the cap. The vanearea may extend the full length of the skirt but usually extends fromthe wide end of the skirt to between 70% and 30% of the total length ofthe skirt.

Now referring to FIGURE 2, the blade-like stems 3 are similar to stems 3of FIGURE 1 except that wing-like portions 4 have been added to theouter surfaces of each stem. 5 is the longitudinal axis or center of theshuttlecock and the line 5-6 is a typical true radius, which passesthrough one of the stems 3 The broad faces of the stems are the faces 3,9 and they fall within 30 of parallelism to this true radius 5-6. Thewide faces of the wing-like portions 4 are the faces 10, 11, and theymust fall within 40 of a line at to the true radius 5-6. The term thickwhen applied to the blade-like stems 3 is the distance between the faces8 and 9, and when applied to the Wing-like portions 4 is the distancebetween the faces 10 and 11.

Referring to FIGURE 3, the blade-like portion 16 of stems 12 is in thisinstance parallel to the true radius 5 -6 and the wing-like portion 17is at right angles to the true radius 5 6 and on both sides of theblade-like portion but is intermediate the ends of the blade-likeportion, though much nearer the outer end than the inner.

Referring now to FIGURE 4, the stem 13 has its bladelike portion 18 atan angle 19 which is at 29 to the true radius 5 6 and it will be notedthat this angle is just within 30 which is the maximum scope it isdesired to cover with this invention. The winglike portion 2%) is at anangle of 90 to the true radius 5 -6 Referring now to FIGURE 5, thetypical stem 14 has its blade-like portion 21 at an angle 19 which is at20 to the typical true radius 5 6 and the wing-like portion 22 is at anangle 23 which is 39 to a typical line 27 at right angles to the trueradius 5 -6 this angle of 39 is just within the scope of this invention.

Referring to FIGURE 6 the typical stem 15 has its blade-like portion 24at an angle 19 which is less than 30 to the true radius 5 -6 and itswing-like portion 25 at an angle 26 which is at an angle 39 to a typicalline 27 at 90 to the true radius but in this instance, to distinguishthe embodiment from that shown at FIGURE 5 the line 2'7 is on the otherside of the true radius 5 -6 The examples given are by way of indicationand not limitation and any suitable combination of blade-like andwing-like portions may be used to give a total length of not less than 1centimetre incorporated in from eight to twenty-four stiifeners arrangedsymmetrically around the axis of the shuttlecock.

In practice it is desirable that all the stems of the shuttlecock shouldincorporate the characterising features of the invention and the lengthof the characterising portion should extend from the cap to the vanearea and even well into the vane area.

Referring now to FIGURE 7: the cap 31 is manufactured separately fromthe skirt 32 which has 16 stems 33 from which branch a number of vanesor ribs 34. The stems 33 incorporate a blade-like portion 35 from thecap outwards for a distance of 4 centimetres and the minimum breadth ofthe stems for this 4 centimetres is 2.5 millimetres and the thickness ofthe blade-like portion is 1 millimetre at the edge remote from the axisand .25 millimetre at the edge nearest the axis and tapered uniformly sothat the mean thickness is more than .3 millimetre.

The wing-like portion previously referred to is designated 36.

What I claim is:

A shuttlecock, consisting of a cap and a flared skirt, the flared skirtincorporating not less than eight nor more than twenty-four stems spacedsymmetrically about the axis of the shuttlecock, said stemsincorporating for at least 1 centimetre of their length a part having across section made up of a blade-like portion and a Wing-like portion,the said blade-like portion having its broadest faces Within 30 ofparallel to a true radius from the axis of the shuttlecock which passesthrough the blade-like portion and the said Wing-like portion having itswidest faces Within 40 of a line at 90 to the same true radius from theaxis of the shuttlecock and the said blade-like portion having a meanthickness not less than .3 millimetre and not more than 1.5 millimetresand being not more than 7 millimetres and not less than 2 millimetres intotal breadth and the said wing-like portion being not References Citedby the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS RICHARD C. PINKHAM, PrimaryExaminer.

DELBERT B. LOWE, Examiner.

less than .075 millimetre thick, and the Width of the said 15 MAX R.PAGE, Assistant Examiner.

wing-like portion being not less than 1.5 millimetres.

